diff --git a/kernel/liveupdate/kexec_handover.c b/kernel/liveupdate/kexec_handover.c
index 4834a809985a..175c08a6e41e 100644
--- a/kernel/liveupdate/kexec_handover.c
+++ b/kernel/liveupdate/kexec_handover.c
@@ -38,6 +38,16 @@
 #include "../kexec_internal.h"
 #include "kexec_handover_internal.h"
 
+/*
+ * This is the minimal alignment required by deferred struct page init.
+ * deferred_init_memmap_chunk frees memory to the buddy allocator, which looks
+ * at the neighboring pages (up to MAX_PAGE_ORDER) to merge them.
+ * If KHO scratch is not aligned to that value, buddy can access uninitialized
+ * struct pages, which can cause a crash.
+ */
+#define SCRATCH_ALIGNMENT_BYTES (PAGE_SIZE * MAX_ORDER_NR_PAGES)
+static_assert(SCRATCH_ALIGNMENT_BYTES >= CMA_MIN_ALIGNMENT_BYTES);
+
 /* The magic token for preserved pages */
 #define KHO_PAGE_MAGIC 0x4b484f50U /* ASCII for 'KHOP' */
 
@@ -640,8 +650,8 @@ static void __init scratch_size_update(void)
 	 * Scratch areas are released as MIGRATE_CMA. Round them up to the right
 	 * size.
 	 */
-	scratch_size_lowmem = round_up(scratch_size_lowmem, CMA_MIN_ALIGNMENT_BYTES);
-	scratch_size_global = round_up(scratch_size_global, CMA_MIN_ALIGNMENT_BYTES);
+	scratch_size_lowmem = round_up(scratch_size_lowmem, SCRATCH_ALIGNMENT_BYTES);
+	scratch_size_global = round_up(scratch_size_global, SCRATCH_ALIGNMENT_BYTES);
 }
 
 static phys_addr_t __init scratch_size_node(int nid)
@@ -656,7 +666,7 @@ static phys_addr_t __init scratch_size_node(int nid)
 		size = scratch_size_pernode;
 	}
 
-	return round_up(size, CMA_MIN_ALIGNMENT_BYTES);
+	return round_up(size, SCRATCH_ALIGNMENT_BYTES);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -692,7 +702,7 @@ static void __init kho_reserve_scratch(void)
 	 * next kernel
 	 */
 	size = scratch_size_lowmem;
-	addr = memblock_phys_alloc_range(size, CMA_MIN_ALIGNMENT_BYTES, 0,
+	addr = memblock_phys_alloc_range(size, SCRATCH_ALIGNMENT_BYTES, 0,
 					 ARCH_LOW_ADDRESS_LIMIT);
 	if (!addr) {
 		pr_err("Failed to reserve lowmem scratch buffer\n");
@@ -705,7 +715,7 @@ static void __init kho_reserve_scratch(void)
 
 	/* reserve large contiguous area for allocations without nid */
 	size = scratch_size_global;
-	addr = memblock_phys_alloc(size, CMA_MIN_ALIGNMENT_BYTES);
+	addr = memblock_phys_alloc(size, SCRATCH_ALIGNMENT_BYTES);
 	if (!addr) {
 		pr_err("Failed to reserve global scratch buffer\n");
 		goto err_free_scratch_areas;
@@ -721,7 +731,7 @@ static void __init kho_reserve_scratch(void)
 	 */
 	for_each_node_state(nid, N_MEMORY) {
 		size = scratch_size_node(nid);
-		addr = memblock_alloc_range_nid(size, CMA_MIN_ALIGNMENT_BYTES,
+		addr = memblock_alloc_range_nid(size, SCRATCH_ALIGNMENT_BYTES,
 						0, MEMBLOCK_ALLOC_ACCESSIBLE,
 						nid, true);
 		if (!addr) {